Fang Daichuan clearly remembered that after beer belly died on the first day, he had examined his pockets. At that time, he and Li Sinian were not very familiar and the other party insisted to not touch the corpse, and he secretly disliked him. What was Li Sinian saying at the time? “Dead Men Tell No Tales,” 一The latest series title of a blockbuster movie.
However, this dead man told a lie.
A card, that at that time had never appeared, now was lying peacefully in the clothes of the deceased.
Fang Daichuan suddenly raised his head.
Li Sinian was still battling with the safe. The combination lock of the old safe was rusted making the opening process challenging. Li Sinian slapped the green-coated box angrily as he poked the key inside. The green iron box is also mottled, maybe it was beaten violently like this in the past.
Fang Daichuan found a corner and squatted down, staring at Li Sinian’s movements while frowning. He held the card tightly in his hand.
Du Chaosheng must be a civilian, there is no doubt about it, he and Du Wei have a grudge and it makes no sense for the two sides to discuss together a flawed manual to confuse the eyes of non-civilians. Then using the same reason there must be a commoner between Du Wei and Chen Hui. According to Li Sinian’s speculation, he and Li Sinian, Liu Xin and Yang Song are four special roles. And if both Du Chaosheng and Mrs. Song are villagers with at least one between Du Wei and Chen Hui is villager, which means the one villager left is between Niu Xinyan and her son that makes four villagers. If the dead Zhao Chu, Ding Zihui, and the remaining two left are four werewolves, then all twelve positions fit together, so what role does beer belly have?
(T/N : This is picture from chapter 27, I won’t repeat my notes, just want to show you what Chuan’er means by 12 positions)
If Beer Belly is the last villager then Niu Xinyan and her son are both werewolves. Then, why did the little boy’s second personality vote for his mother?
It could be that the second personality dislikes his mother, after all he is disguised as his father so out of fear of being exposed, making him eager to murder his mother. You could say it is both fear and malice for his mother.
In any case, even as a wolf, the beer belly doesn’t seem to fit? Other positions seem won’t fit either. Fang Daichuan held his head. After the first night’s death, the beer belly seemed to disappear. No matter how he guesses, there seems no place for this person, and everyone else does not notice that something is wrong. So he never thought about it before.
What is beer belly’s role? Who is occupying his identity now? Why did the card return to the beer belly? Who, for what purpose and in what way did that person put the card back? The more Fang Daichuan thought about it, the colder he felt.
Li Sinian sprouted obscenities before finally successfully opening the safe. He was a little irritable, not as gentle as he usually is. Perhaps being too close to the truth. In the face of the truth, the longer and more frustrated the road is, the more eager someone is to get close to it.
In front of the safe, Li Sinian looked agitated. He took a deep breath and stared at the safe door that was slowly popping open, a line of dust fell from the top of the door.
Li Sinian looked inside and saw the dust-covered safe that had not been touched for a long time. Maybe no one had seen it, or maybe whoever opened this before carefully restored its original appearance. Inside was a Kraft paper bag, not thick, but when Li Sinian pulled it out, it felt heavy in his hand.
Fang Daichuan stopped his wild speculation. He tucked the ID card into his trousers pocket and looked at it. Li Sinian’s fingers trembled a little when he opened the paper bag and his fingernails looked particularly pale in the flickering lights.
The documents were dumped on the table by him.
Various contracts and documents, government approvals in foreign languages, geological testing reports in both Chinese and English.
Li Sinian’s mother tongue is English, he left the country when he was very young and grew up with his mother and usually he didn’t feel it when he spoke Chinese, but at this moment, which one he is more comfortable with was obvious. Reflexively, he pulled over the English one and skimmed through it with a single glance.
Fang Daichuan picked up the scattered Chinese materials on the table and read them while sorting them out.
Fang Daichuan had a hard time with a lot of professional vocabulary, but he figured it out. There are a total of five documents, in chronological order, from front to back.
It’s about the island below their feet.
There is an original version of the geological exploration report that shows that there are huge diamond mines in this island. It was executed and stamped* by Li Heng in 2001. Fang Daichuan remembered that this was the name of Li Sinian’s father. After half a year, Du Chaosheng issued the development report to the local government, as well as the approval to purchase the rights to use and develop the island, except that in the development report, not a single word was mentioned about this possible mineral.
(T/N : I use stamped not signed because when I check, the picture gives me an image of using seal, link below for more information, instead of using signature.)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seal_(East_Asia)
This was followed by a second report, seven months after the original report, which was very different from the first. The site exploration team carefully investigated the relevant geological landforms and found that the diamond mine was buried in the crevasse* located in the back mountain of the island and at the bottom of the deep trench, which was very difficult to mine. Moreover, the geographical location of the island is not good. It is located at the mouth of an active submarine volcano and recently there has been frequent activity. It is speculated that the volcano will erupt within 15 years at most.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crevasse
Fang Daichuan gasped, he quickly flipped to the end of the report to see the date. It is May 15, 2002.
(T/N : Yes this novel is written in 2017, btw there is talk of making this a television show, but so far it seems to be delayed. Sigh. Oh well, I have a ton of drama that I haven’t got to watch so…let’s get back to story)
Two days until the final eruption.
Fang Daichuan was shocked: “This boss is very trustworthy, saying that seven days are seven days, not even one more day is given to us. The volcanic eruption is real!”
Li Sinian has actually seen these contents. His father left home since he was in charge of this project in 2001 and has not returned home since then. Over the years, Li Sinian has tried his best to search the exploration institute where his father worked, hoping to find the last trace of his father’s life. He has seen the first three documents. He once thought that he was very close to the truth, that the truth is within his reach.
It was the fourth and fifth documents today that really brought Li Sinian to the truth at the heart of the matter.
The fourth document was the letter of transfer of the island, the A and B parties were Du Chaosheng and Wang Shengzhi respectively. The name looked familiar, and after a few moments of thinking about the player’s profile, Li Sinian finally remembered that this was Yang Song’s father.
However, the report enclosed in the letter of transfer was a first version, not a final version that revealed the real situation. Li Sinian’s fingers that flip over the pages suddenly stopped, he raised his head and closed his eyes.
He had already guessed what was on the last document.
The final document has no English version, only one page in Chinese, which is a letter printed directly from the mailbox of the web version.
Li Sinian stretched out his right hand and Fang Daichuan handed it to him hesitantly.
Fang Daichuan didn’t want him to see it because it was too cruel. However, Fang Daichuan was also reluctant not to show it to him, because no matter how harsh it is, it is what he was so desperately pursuing. Fang Daichuan was aware deeply and clearly how vicious the truth he was looking for was.
——It was a letter, a letter from Li Heng to Wang Shengzhi.
He told the whole story, about what Niu Nahan and Du Chaosheng did, about their schemes after they learned the truth, about their risk shifting, that they concealed the real report that they had been possessed, how they kept silent for some petty profits and sold their souls.
At the end of the letter, he said: “I am powerless to rid myself of my inner greed nor to face the accusation of my conscience. I can only wait for death.” He said: “I know very well that I have become a demon and have sinned so much. I am done for.”
Fang Daichuan finally knew why the withered bone sat so peacefully in the cave until he slowly died of starvation, thirst and even the sea engulfed him. He was imprisoned there, but before being imprisoned, he already died inside.
All the known clues perfectly drew a circle in front of him, like Möbius strip*, clearly having two sides, but twisted in a single one-sided surface, where all the two-sided logic finally works itself out.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%B6bius_strip
It was his silent connivance that destroyed a businessman’s only hope. It was his untimely conscience that finally led him to a dead end.
Li Sinian released his hand, and the printed email fell to the ground. Fang Daichuan looked at him worriedly, the man who was familiar with the rules and indifferent to human life, the man who was frighteningly calm in times of life and death, was now so silent that it was heartbreaking.
Fang Daichuan silently wrapped his arms around his shoulders, trying to comfort, he gently pressed his head against his.
Li Sinian opened his eyes and hugged him fiercely, resting his head heavily against his shoulder. Fang Daichuan was somewhat at a loss for words as he clumsily cradled his head and pressed it close to his heart, trying to warm him with the warmth of his heart.
——He suddenly felt cool liquid soaked through his clothes.
The cold and merciless Li Sinian, in a dark and narrow secret room, in front of a corpse, in his arms, silently wept.
He did not cry when he saw his father’s corpse; what was he thinking at the time? Perhaps it was anger and the desire for revenge that pushed the grief away. He was able to accept that his father had stood firm for justice and been assassinated by outlaws, but in the end he found that the tall, perfect father he remembered from his childhood was no different from those in the killing game.
Nobody is innocent.
How cruel.
Li Sinian’s shoulders trembled slightly. It was a very subtle movement. If it wasn’t for the coldness in his chest that continued to expand, Fang Daichuan would not even have noticed that the person he is holding is crying. There was no wailing, no complaints, no screaming or roaring, not even a sound.
Even the shaking was held back, for fear that others would see it.